That dream came closer than ever to becoming a reality Thursday when Lopez-Argueta graduated at the top of her 35-member senior class and addressed a crowd of more than 1,100 students, parents and friends at Jones Hall. After six years of 7:30 a.m.-to- 5 p.m. school days and classes even on Saturdays, Lopez-Argueta not only graduated valedictorian but also amassed scholarships totaling more than $275,000.

"Graduating from high school was always expected of me, even though most of my family hadn't been able to follow through with their education," said Lopez-Argueta. "A high school degree is not enough anymore."

Lopez-Argueta, the eldest of four children of two Salvadoran immigrants who fled their country's fierce civil war in the early 1980s, was the first member of her household to graduate from high school and will be the first to attend college. Her younger siblings, David, 15, Joanna, 13, and Oscar, 11, plan to follow her path. David and Joanna are current YES students; Oscar begins summer school there this month.

"When I first came to this country, I thought I was going to study. But my mother and I were by ourselves so I had to work instead," said Lopez-Argueta's mother, Flora Lopez. "I see that (Rosa) is everything I wanted to be but couldn't be. I see my dreams realized through her."

Lopez-Argueta began attending YES — a charter school at 353 Crenshaw Road that emphasizes college and requires students to be accepted to a four-year university in order to graduate, among other things — after hearing about it during a summer program prior to starting the seventh grade.

"Rosa has shown excellent academic achievement," said Kamentz. "We pushed her to achieve and she took advantage of that."

Lopez-Argueta had the opportunity to visit several of the schools she applied to and was accepted to Notre Dame thanks to a stipend provided by the school, which paid for her visit to its campus in South Bend, Ind.

Satiel Argueta, Lopez-Argueta's father, said he still is amazed at his daughter's work ethic and commitment to school.

"Routinely she stayed up past midnight studying. One night I woke up only to find Rosa doing homework. It must have been 5:30 a.m.!" Argueta said.

Besides having her parents serve as examples of hard work — her mother does housekeeping work and her father is a mechanic — Lopez-Argueta also had her aunt, Doris Turcios, to look up to. Turcios graduated from the University of Houston and works as an elementary-school teacher for the Houston Independent School District.

Looking back on six years at YES, Lopez-Argueta has only praise for school, and says the long hours have been worth it.

"I feel good about graduating, but I'm only half way there. This is more like a step toward something else," she said.